Dubai: The Afghanistan Cricket Board is keen to get Full Member status from International Cricket Council (ICC) in February. A leading cricket website says Afghanistan officials are preparing a comprehensive report to satisfy the criteria.
The ICC’s guideline criteria for Full Membership states: “A country must play regular first-class cricket (domestic 3-4 day competition) before playing Test cricket. Number of teams and players - sufficiently large pool of players to draw from capable of performing at the highest level of the game.”
Afghanistan gained Affiliate membership in 2001 and were granted Associate status in 2013. In 2009, the team was given ODI status and, over the last few years, the ACB has undergone extensive organisational restructuring to provide better leadership and find qualified staff to run cricket administration in the war-torn country.
The ACB is also upgrading it’s cricket infrastructure. There is a four-day tournament between five regional teams, and four one-day tournaments (three provincial and one national, featuring regional teams).
There is at least one cricket ground in every region and a national cricket academy in Kabul, along with a development structure for teams from the youth to the senior levels.
Afghanistan have played 70 ODIs so far, winning 35 games, and played at their first World Cup in 2015. In T20Is, they have won 32 out of 51 matches and have played in four editions of the World T20. The team is currently ranked tenth in ODIs and ninth in the T20I rankings.
